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Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic: Creatively Encountering Oneness – A

Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology

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DOI: 10.1080/14769948.2017.1359008

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 Black Theology
An International Journal

ISSN: 1476-9948 (Print) 1743-1670 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yblt20

Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic: Creatively

Encountering Oneness – A Logical Analysis of
Thurman’s Theology

Anthony Sean Neal

To cite this article: Anthony Sean Neal (2017): Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic: Creatively
Encountering Oneness – A Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology, Black Theology, DOI:
10.1080/14769948.2017.1359008

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 BLACK THEOLOGY, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/14769948.2017.1359008

Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic: Creatively Encountering

Oneness – A Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology
Anthony Sean Neal
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Howard Thurman is described on his book covers, which were Mystic experience; Plotinus;
published during his lifetime, as a poet, mystic, philosopher, and neoplatonism; perceptual
theologian. Aside from this description, locating Thurman among framework; mysticism;
intuition; cosmic unity
other philosophers and theologians has been difficult owing to
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the description of his work as non-systematic. In this paper, I

argue that (i) Howard Thurman can be located, historically, among
other philosophical theologians in general and more specifically
as a precursor to Black Theology because of his allowance for his
experience to inform him. Then (ii), I also assert that he was
systematic in his approach to philosophy and that such an
approach was through a mystic framework, which is described in
detail here, for the first time.

Introduction
Philosophy, in all of its forms, entices the practitioner to participate in a quest for knowl-
edge, while offering no guarantees of a discovery of truth, but only giving a faint assurance
that it is the search, which makes it possible to actualize the full potential of all that can be
called human ability. With this understanding, many are conscripted to seek an under-
standing of the world as a whole, while also speculating on the nature of the Holy.
Howard Thurman’s life represents the climatic end to a lifelong search, which harmonizes
one man’s understanding of the world as a whole with the philosophical and theological
language that facilitated his discourse. This search culminates with a single volume
entitled, The Search for Common Ground.
This man, Howard Thurman, through the use of science and mysticism becomes what
Bertrand Russell depicts as the greatest of men.1 This feat is accomplished through Thur-
man’s use of a horizontally referenced logical system, such as Gadamer’s conception of the
fusion of horizons; also this logical system contains loose roots in the philosophically
based mysticism of the Renaissance. Therefore, his basic premise, which focuses on the
mystic claim of the oneness of all, is demonstrated in such statements as, “This is a
living world,”2 is offered as a means to a conclusive moment of understanding that life
is eternally interconnected. In this research, an exposition of the philosophic method of

CONTACT Anthony Sean Neal aneal@philrel.msstate.edu Mississippi State University, PO Box JS, Mississippi State,
MS 39762, USA
1
Russell, Mysticism and Logic, 1–30.
2
Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit, 17–21.
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 2 A. S. NEAL

theology used by Thurman will be given so as to display its logical form along with its
experiential nature. From this exposition, Thurman’s tenuous position within Black
Theology will be bolstered, while also locating Thurman within the greater discussion
of philosophy of religion in general.

Theological Question – Why Is Thurman’s Theology Generally Overlooked

and How Can It Work Within Black Theology?
Howard Thurman was an introspective person by nature, even in his youth. His written
production consisted of the words that he found illumined what he perceived as the
human experience in the world mediated by the constant inner desire to exist in a
world conducive to the actualization of human potential. Although Thurman was not
intent upon delineating philosophical concepts for the purpose of placing technical
terms and ideas into a more utilitarian language, he did set his aim upon utilizing his phi-
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losophical framework to confront issues, which he felt hindered the fulfilment of human
potential. His philosophical framework was established upon a tripartite structure inclus-
ive of a cosmology, ontology, and a philosophical anthropology. The implied queries at
work in Thurman’s philosophy of religion are what is God, what is the relationship
between God and existence, also what is the correlative meaning for humanity. Based
upon this trajectory of thought, which developed in reference to these queries,
Thurman spoke to the necessity of community in the social transformation of society.
To truly understand Howard Thurman as a philosopher is to discuss in phenomeno-
logical manner the way in which he saw himself situated within this modes of thought.
If this is to be done properly, Thurman can never separate from his experience of Black-
ness in the “Modern Era.”3 It also requires the proper placement of his ideas concerning
God as the ground of being and the God/man relationship into the proper context. Since it
is Thurman who makes the claim that much of his understanding of God was directly
influenced by his grandmother and also what he witnessed through nature, a proper con-
textualization can only be achieved by understanding Thurman thoroughly as a nexus
between whatever remnant of African thought remained embodied in his grandmother
(Nancy Burroughs) and the frameworks he adopted through rigorous research. These fra-
meworks were utilized by Thurman to explicate the harmonization of his experience in
nature and the experience mediated through his grandmother. Accomplishing this task
will involve an unfolding of the fundamental philosophical concepts found in Thurman’s
corpus while also demonstrating the inclusion of Thurman’s ideas within the greater dis-
courses of Black Theology and Philosophy.
James Cone initially outlines Black Theology, as a genre of Christian Theology or a
theological framework through which to read the biblical text. To claim that Thurman
was a proponent of Black Theology (proper) would be to contextually locate Thurman’s
ideas and his ideological development within a false timeframe. Thurman’s ideas were
fully formed when James Cone pens the monumental work, Black Theology Black
Power in 1969, and therefore, could not have been influenced by this work of Cone.
However, Thurman cannot be excluded from the literature or discussions surrounding
3
The modern is defined here as the period from 1896 (conferring of the Ph.D. to W.E.B. DuBois) to 1975 (the end of the
Vietnam War).
 BLACK THEOLOGY 3

Black Theology. Within this literature, there is strategic use of Thurman’s ideas such that
many of the themes found in Cone and others seem foreshadowed by Thurman. The very
notion of a theology, as described by Cone, written for powerless Black people constantly
threatened by the insidious tentacles of White power is certainly more than congruent
with Thurman’s theological treatise dedicated to those who stand at a moment in time
with their backs against the wall.4 Beyond this, however, Gayraud Wilmore puts forth
this comparison in African American Religious Studies, but also asserts what differentiates
the two thinkers by noting that Cone “mounts a theological critique of the oppressors from
the stance of power.”5
Any notion of the fact that because the bulk of Thurman’s writings preexisted the
seminal texts concerning Black Theology somehow justifies their being ignored is funda-
mentally unsound. The aim of Thurman’s work and the approach, specifically his privile-
ging of his own Black experience as a significant starting point from which to create his
ideas, certainly justifies his being included in this stream of thought. The Black experience,
specifically the experience of oppression through segregation based on skin colour, “for
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the first twenty-three years of [his] life … left deep scars in [his] spirit,”6 causing his per-
ception to be exceptionally keen to this separateness. Thurman writes further,
My roots are deep in the throbbing reality of the Negro idiom and from it I draw a full
measure of inspiration and vitality … There is no waking moment or sleeping interval
when one may expect respite from the desolation and despair of segregation.7

As I wrote in my 2015 book, Common Ground, Thurman is philosophically describing

what it means to “be” during this period. Also, as I was dealing with the subject of con-
sciousness, no consciousness for Thurman existed outside of Blackness.
The best example of this foreshadowing of a Black Theology by Thurman is found
within his work, Jesus and the Disinherited, arguably his best-known work. In 1949, this
work, which had begun as a 1935 seven-page essay (“Good News for the Underprivi-
leged”), was first put into book form. Thurman’s words announced his complete immer-
sion into the task of finding a suitable response to the question of why would a Black
person become a Christian given all that they had suffered at the hands of White
people, is a question he was asked while in India. The response Thurman put forth was
that the religion of Jesus was not an abstract myth; it was a religious movement, which
developed in an historical context. In this context, the subject of the text was himself a
member of the underprivileged, the disinherited. The principles that extended from this
religious movement were not developed for the maintenance of power for the powerful,
but it was aimed, instead, at relieving the struggle for life of the disinherited.
Thurman writes, “The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this
Jewish teacher and thinker appears as a techniques of survival for the oppressed.”8 In
writing this, Thurman is attempting to recover that which has been lost by the coopting
of Christianity by powerful oppressors. In a similar vein, Cone writes,

4
Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 11.
5
Wilmore, African American Religious Studies, 35.
6
Thurman, The Luminous Darkness, X.
7
Ibid.
8
Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 29.
 4 A. S. NEAL

The present work seeks to be revolutionary in the sense that it attempts to bring to theology a
special attitude permeated with black consciousness. It asks the question, what does the
Christian gospel have to say to powerless black [people] whose existence is threatened
daily by the insidious tentacles of power?9

It is certainly evident by now that there is an intentional emphasis on comparing the

works, although briefly, of Thurman and Cone as of means of demonstration Thurman’s
foreshadowing of Black Theology. This is certainly purposeful, for it is Cone’s 1969 text
that is considered to be the initial first, full volume text of Black Theology. To be sure,
others write about expressions of Black religious belief, but it is Cone who attempts to
use a theological framework, with complete theological categories, to outline a Black
Theology. Therefore, any attempt to demonstrate Thurman as a forerunner to the very
concept should most likely begin with Cone.
In Prophesy Deliverance, Cornel West deliberately constructs a historical outline
demonstrating Thurman’s presence as a forerunner to Cone, referring to Thurman, Ben-
jamin Mays, and George Kelsey as being among the pioneers.10 In a section of this work
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entitled, “The Evolution of Black Theology,” West divides this development into four
stages, extending from the middle of the seventeenth century until at least the time of
the book’s publication, which was 1982.11 He locates Thurman in the second stage,
from 1864 to 1969, which is designated “Black Theology of Liberation as Critique of Insti-
tutional Racism.”12 To categorize Thurman in such a manner is to certainly say that the
works of Thurman, as listed in the citations for this section are at least on par theologically,
and are to be understood as representative works of a particular kind, that kind being
works that lead to the development of Black Theology.
As a final point toward the demonstration of Thurman’s position in relation to Black
Theology, because of criticism received from other prominent Black theologians, Cone
published The Spirituals and the Blues, as a means of allowing the voices of Black
people to speak to the subject of a Black Theology. The first chapter is entitled, “Interpret-
ations of the Black Spirituals,” and includes a section, which investigates the subject of reli-
gion in the spirituals. Cone writes,
According to Thurman, the black spiritual is an expression of the slaves’ determination to be
in a society that seeks to destroy their personhood. It is an affirmation of the dignity of the
black slaves, the essential humanity of their spirits. Where human life is regarded as property
and death has no dignity, “the human spirit is stripped to the literal substance of itself.”

Cones’ only critique of Thurman’s essay was the lack of a “full scope” theological analysis.
To be fair to Thurman, however, this essay was an interpretation of what Black people
themselves had to say about their humanity in light of their God and it was not filtered
through Western theological categories. In spite of this critique, it is clear that Cone,
West, and Wilmore place Thurman among those who are to be thought of as foundational
thinkers on the subject of a Black Theology. Certainly, his writings were instrumental in
framing their thoughts on the matter. It is only when subsequent writers of recent times
are examined that Thurman and others of his milieu are sometimes overlooked.

9
Cone, Black Theology Black Power, 32.
10
West, Prophesy Deliverance, 103–5.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 5

Just as Thurman influenced Black Theology conceptually, in a like manner he was

influenced by the writings of mystics, especially Neoplatonists, beginning with Plotinus,
and forward in history, including others who lived during his lifetime.13 It was in these
writings, that Thurman found others, who like him, sought answers to the timeless pro-
blems of the human spirit. In a 1953 sermon, Thurman displayed the depth of his
concern and focus upon the subject of mysticism through the expounding upon the
ideas of others who were similarly situated throughout history. Of course it would have
been impossible for Thurman to refer to all persons in this vein of thought that influenced
him, so why these? It is my opinion that Thurman mentioned those whom he found a pro-
found sense of connection in their ideas. Plotinus, however, stands out as being the most
significant for Thurman. It is Plotinus’ explanation of the God/existence relationship that
Thurman uses to shape his thinking on the subject.
All mystics are not Neoplatonist, neither does Thurman attempt to graft the various
concepts from all mystics into a philosophical whole. Thurman is intentional about the
ideas he uses to ground his talks and writings. To this point, his use of Plotinus is signifi-
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cant for this reason, it opens a window of understanding to the inner workings of Thur-
man’s ideas, while also providing a perspective of how he felt these ideas should be
categorized. This process of thinking began in 1929, when Rufus Jones14 accepted
Thurman as a special student. Thurman increased his ability to express his ontology of
mysticism. Between 14 May 1940 and July of 1971, Thurman would use Plotinus as inte-
gral part of his lectures and sermons. There are nine specific lessons in which he outlined
Plotinus’ ontology of mysticism while also demonstrated its pragmatic qualities.
In a sermon delivered 26 November 1961, from tape #6, “The Inward Journey” series
entitled “Plotinus” (which Thurman wrote a meditative poem in The Inward Journey book
entitled “Plotinus,”) Thurman explicitly recounts the finer points of the philosophy of Plo-
tinus.15 In the following section, I shall detail those points and how they informed Thur-
man’s thinking. What is necessary for placement here is Thurman’s identification with a
particular type of thought and his recognition that his experiences would act as a filter for
that thought. So, even as he felt connected to a past lineage of thought, he also realize his
uniqueness.
Unlike other mystics, Thurman’s time of existence taught him that forced fragmenta-
tion in any form was not only a timeless problem of the human spirit, but it was a serious
threat to the actualization of human potential. Thurman could recognize fragmentation as
a problem because, as a mystic himself, he was certain of the interconnectedness of all
things. However, just as the thinkers of Black Theology have utilized life experiences in
their work, Thurman’s philosophy was also infused with his experience in life. To this
point, Thurman would say, “How can I believe that life has meaning if I do not believe
that my own life has meaning?”16 In other words, he would use his lived experience
and the memes or cultural genes inherited from his experiential moment of the twentieth

13
It is significant to those attempting to decipher the depths of Thurman’s thought to know that he was not limited in his
reading; however, as to theology, once being introduced to the writings of mystic philosophers, he became more focused
in that area, reading such works as those written by Plato and the Neoplatonists to include Spinoza, Bergson, and
Whitehead.
14
Jones (1863–1948) was a Quaker mystic and philosophy professor at Haverford College.
15
November 26, 1961, from tape #6, “The Inward Journey” series entitled “Plotinus.”
16
Thurman and Smith, Howard Thurman: Essential Writings, 14.
 6 A. S. NEAL

century as a post-slavery, post-Plessy v. Ferguson, Black American, to shape his perceptual

framework.17
Thurman was concerned with the negative effects of fragmentation, but he also saw the
necessity of informing individuals of their potential to overcome certain characteristics
that obstruct becoming fully human such as fear, hate, and deception.18 It was Thurman’s
desire to make known to his readers the inherent essence and ability of humanity. He
believed that as humans, we choose! Certainly, he did not deny that particular
moments in time contained definite deterministic structures that held sway in the life
of the individual. However, he did not concede that these deterministic structures had
the final approval in the overall outcome of the individual. For Thurman, it was a
matter of commitment. About this, he would say,
Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a
purpose or cause, a movement or ideal, which may be more important to him than whether
he lives or dies. The commitment is a self-conscious act of will by which he affirms his identi-
fication with what he is committed to.19
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In this statement, Thurman’s recognition of the outward bounds of human existence are
not as much ignored as they are superseded by the commitment or conscious intent of the
individual will to first imagine a possibility, and then to become by overcoming the
struggle of inner and outer obstacles. Contained within statements, such as this, is Thur-
man’s attempt to do as others, such as Rufus Jones and Meister Eckhart have, and that was
to make being a mystic, and to a greater degree, mysticism, understandable to the laymen
and applicable to everyday life.20
An incredible effort was directed towards this goal of creating what was essentially a
living philosophy rooted in his own lived experience, interpreted through the wisdom
of the ages, and communicated through his writings and sermons. It was through the com-
bination of these elements that Thurman could be seen as a prophet,21 and not a disciple.
About this he would say,
When I completed this manuscript, I was struck by the feeling that here I had set down the
case in rather formal terms, for what reveals itself is my lifelong working paper. What is
suggested and often stated in previous books, such as The Creative Encounter, Jesus and
the Disinherited, and Footprints of a Dream, in the present volume comes full circle in a
wider context, rooted in the life process itself.22

The prophet/disciple distinction is one I find to be necessary, given the haste in which
many who write about African American scholars assume them to be merely parroting
some other great, typically White thinker. Thurman distinguishes himself from others
whom he is often thought to be mimicking by his constant posing of the question,

17
Neal, Common Ground, 1.
18
Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 29.
19
Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit, 17.
20
Much of Thurman’s focus was upon creating the possibility to actualize full potential for those with which he came into
contact. Differing from other theologians and philosophers, his focus was not on conversion stemming from his in ema-
nation or a latent divine spark.
21
In Jones’ book George Fox, Seeker and Friend (1930) Jones says of Fox, “He was always an affirmation mystic and must not
be judged or estimated in the class of scholarly or critical reformers. He does not belong there. He belongs in the order of
the mystical, or intuitional, prophets.” Likewise, Luther Smith asserts of Thurman, “Holy Man, Saint, spiritual innovator, …
prophet … ” in The Mystic as Prophet.
22
Thurman, The Search for Common Ground, xiii.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 7

what is my life’s meaning? In this query, there was enveloped the idea that Black life had
meaning. This distinction is also present in his ability to recognize that God inhabits Black
flesh making it also a part of the overall totality of reality. However, much of this great
effort, of which I spoke earlier, was expended in acquiring and synthesizing knowledge.
In the next section, I will explicate the philosophical ideas that Thurman found useful
towards his goal of creating this living philosophy, one thoroughly grounded in philoso-
phical mysticism.

Mysticism and Mystics

Mysticism and mystic existence, while certainly sharing points of connectivity, are not to
be equated, nor can either term be said to be, univocal. Mysticism, to differentiate from a
mystic experience, has to do with an individual’s or a community’s, for that matter,
posture towards a certain metaphysical comprehension. More specifically adherents to
mysticism have a certain cosmological understanding about the universe or multiverse
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and the ontological relationship of the individual. Within mysticism, this relationship,
whether understood to be transcendent or intense, is thought to have oneness or whole-
ness, being opposite to fragmentation, as its preeminent characteristic.23 That stated, then,
mysticism is just as much a way of explaining existence, or a metaphysical philosophy, as it
is a belief about metaphysics.
Mysticism as a philosophy, belief, or subject about which to write, was not unusual in
Thurman’s day. There were individuals who adhered to mysticism whether as a belief or
philosophy and there were many writings considered to have expounded upon this subject
matter.24 Uniqueness can be found in that Thurman held mainstream positions within
academia while also placing mysticism at the centre of his teaching and writing; also he
was a Black man. However, Thurman was able to find a like consciousness in many
that were also seeking to explain what they believed to be the possibility of a direct con-
nection to “The One.” In written work, Thurman speaks prominently of his special study
with Rufus Jones, but the ideas of others also appear in his writings, connecting Thurman
to such intellectual traditions as Neoplatonism and Process. This type of eclectic retrieval
of ideas demonstrates Thurman’s ability to describe his mystic experience, and beyond
that, he was also able to explicate mysticism as a philosophy. Fundamentally, for
Thurman, existence was one. This concept and its interpretation gave Thurman ideologi-
cal kinship with others.
The religious basis for such an interpretation of community is the affirmation, which to me is
categorical, that the Mind of God realizes Itself in time, and that there are observable patterns
or sequences in all creation. Thus God is thought of as Creator. From this point of view, all
time-space manifestations, in short, all things, even existence itself, are regarded as the Mind
of God coming to Itself in time and space.25

Similarly, Spinoza writes,

23
Mystic philosophers profess the interconnectedness of all existence, although not in the dogmatic sense, but through
resolve, not being to find any better explanation for the intensity of the feeling of connectedness, all the while continually
searching.
24
American Philosophy departments were not wholly consumed by the “linguistic turn” during the period of Thurman’s
education.
25
Thurman, Common Ground, 5.
 8 A. S. NEAL

Therefore the intellect of God, in so far as it is conceived to constitute his essence, is in truth
the cause of all things, both their essence and of their existence, a truth which seems to have
been understood by those who have maintained that God’s intellect, will and power are one
and the same thing.26

As stated above Howard Thurman’s initial understanding of mysticism as a philosophy

was gained through special study with Rufus Jones, based upon the timeframe in which an
explanation appeared in his writings.27 In 1961, Thurman wrote the following about Jones,
I would like to acknowledge … my indebtedness to him for so large a share in helping me to
stake out the area of thought and the interpretation of experience which has been my concern
for the past thirty years.28

In this quote, it can easily be discerned that Thurman considered his acquired learning
from Jones to be a system or framework by which he could perform a type of phenomen-
ology giving special attention to his ability to explain or interpret his mystical experience
to others. Thurman also continued his study independently of Jones, constantly searching
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for a particular understanding that would give meaning to his life, while also serving as
primer for the specific life questions that plagued his subjective reality. In October of
1934, he published a review of Mary Anita Ewer’s A Survey of Mystical Symbolism in
which he wrote,
… there is in the human soul that which Meister Eckhart calls an uncreated element. It is the
point at which the infinite enters the finite, it is given, and it is not finite but infinite.29

Just as Thurman spent a great amount of time interpreting terse philosophical text into
terms more palatable for the laymen, he also spent an equal amount of time translating his
mystic experience, which this experiential presence is a requirement, for mystics. The
mystic experience is comprised of the epistemological process by which those who are
mystics come to their metaphysical knowledge. Of this, Thurman would write,
The mystic experiences unity, not identity, but it is a unity that penetrates through all the
levels of consciousness and fills him with a sense of the Other. He uses symbolism to help
him keep alive this sense of presence.30

Thurman’s vocal and written explanation of this process is congruent with other mystics.
A similar sentiment can be found in the writings of Pseudo Dionysius,
And so all these scriptural utterances celebrate the supreme Deity by describing it as a monad
or henad, because of its supernatural simplicity and indivisible unity, by which unifying
power we are led to unity … But as for now, what happens is this. We use whatever appro-
priate symbols we can for the things of God. With these analogies we are raised upward
toward the truth of the mind’s vision, a truth that is simple and one.31

Plotinus has this to say,

26
Spinoza, The Ethics, prop. XVII corol. 2 schol.
27
Thurman, With Head and Heart, 76–7.
28
Thurman, Mysticism and the Experience of Love, 3.
29
Fluker, The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, 204.
30
Thurman, “Mysticism and Social Change,” 108–30.
31
Luibheid, Pseudo-Dionysius, 51–3.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 9

In our self-seeing there, the self is seen as belonging to that order, or rather we merged into
that self in us who has the quality of that order. It is a knowing of the self-restored to its
purity. No doubt we should speak of seeing; but we cannot help talking in dualities, seen
and seer, instead of, boldly, that achievement of unity.32

These statements not only synonymous, but also clearly demonstrate the acuity of Thur-
man’s explanative methods stemming from his total immersion and connectivity to a par-
ticular philosophical tradition. This was a tradition he felt would assist in the cause of
community development and social transformation among all people, especially those
who were considered to be, the disinherited.
Community development and personal transformation stimulated Thurman’s early
search for an understanding of the intense connection he felt to his existence. Thurman
would describe the process by which the individual begins personal transformation by
different modes. One such mode he used was called the centring moment or the
process of centring down. Of this Thurman would say on one occasion,
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… all my life I have been seeking to validate, beyond all ambivalences and frustrations, the
integrity of inner life. I have sensed the urgency to find a way to act and react responsibly
out of my own center. I have sought a way of life that could come under the influence of,
and be informed by, the fruit of the inner life.33

Because Thurman was, from a young age, introspective, meditation, and deep observance
were always a part of his constitution, but the centring down process, as so named, is a part
of the Quaker tradition and was introduced to Thurman during his special session with
Rufus Jones.34 It would be in these moments of centring down that Thurman would
feel the greatest intensity and interconnectedness to life; however, he would also realize,
because of the intensity in these moments, that the feeling of connectedness found in
these moments could not be maintained. The explanation given for the brevity of the
experience rested upon the tension between the interconnectedness to the genus of life
and the experiential moments found within the species of life.35
What Professor [William Ernest] Hocking has called the principle of alternation is in the very
structure of all experience. The mystic discovers this in a most extraordinary fashion. He is a
man, he is a part and parcel of all the world of nature, he has warring impulses within and
participates in strife without. He sees that the world of things and men does not conform to
the unity which he has experienced in his vision … He finds that the two worlds must in
some sense be one because he participates actively in both at the same moment but he is con-
vinced that the meaning of the below is in the above.36

According to Thurman, there are obstacles found within the species of life, which dull
the intensity or block the reception of the feeling of interconnectedness, thus hindering
community development and personal transformation. The effect of this experience on
some mystics is a strong desire towards isolation, but this is contrary to the premise of
the interconnectedness to the genus of life and on some level it is necessarily unfulfiling.
Another effect of this experience is a strong desire to challenge the obstacles of outer life,

32
Plotinus, “Ennead 6[10].”
33
Thurman, Mysticism and the Experience of Love, 4–5.
34
Thurman, Meditations of the Heart, 28.
35
Thurman and Fluker, A Strange Freedom, 114.
36
Ibid.
 10 A. S. NEAL

causing an evolution from the goal of personal transformation to the goal social trans-
formation, with the realization that the inner acknowledgement of the interconnectedness
of the genus of life must somehow be reflected in an outer interconnectedness of the
species of life.
The pronouncement of the active participation in the mystic experience is found early
in Thurman’s life and clearly had an intense effect on him throughout his life. An indi-
cation of this participation is noted in Thurman’s autobiographical work through
several key statements about the substance of his understanding of the connection
between a particular life and life in general.
Death was no stranger to us. It was a part of the rhythm of our days … but I tender to wonder
away to be alone for a time, for in that way I sense the strength of the quiet and the aliveness
of the woods … Nightfall was meaningful to my childhood, for the night was more than a
companion … The night had its own language … At such times I could hear the night
think, and feel the night feel … The night has been my companion all my life … The
ocean and the river befriended me when I was a child … Eventually, I discovered that the
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oak tree and I had a unique relationship … I could talk to the oak tree aloud and know
that I was understood … As for me, on each visit I would go to my oak tree to lean
against it for an intense moment of past intimacy.37

These demonstrate the interconnected and interdependent way in which Thurman

thought. Howard Thurman, a person taken to be a mystic by even those who may deny
the validity of the mystic experience, was consumed with the analysis of mysticism and
its utility in providing answers for community development and social transformation.
So, then, what was Howard Thurman’s conception of mysticism and how did his iteration
of spirituality qualify as a mystic philosophy? Also, what did Thurman perceive, as a result
of mysticism, to be the nature of community? To bring clarity to this statement, Thur-
man’s logic must be thoroughly analysed.

Mysticism and Logic

Mysticism and Logic are concepts, which because of the polarity that exist in their defi-
nitions, they are seldom discussed within the same space. Whenever the two are lifted to
a focus, logic is aggrandized, while mysticism is disparaged. However, in an early article
written by Bertrand Russell entitled “Mysticism and Logic,”38 from which the title of this
present work precedes, the two concepts are exposed, giving credence to both, while concur-
rently illumining the strengths and weaknesses of each. While not wanting to give mysticism
credence as a means of determining truth, Russell lauded mysticism for what he denoted as a
reverence and an emotion that develops the best of what is humanity. In spite of the specu-
lative nature of mysticism, Russell was willing to concede to mysticism as being another way
of knowing, although he considered the insights eternally misguided.
Howard Thurman often described as a poet, mystic, philosopher, and theologian, is
generally absent from any conversation in which philosophical or theological ideas are dis-
cussed for their revealed truths.39 Thurman’s writings have been relegated to serving as
37
Thurman, With Head and Heart, 4–28.
38
Russell, Mysticism and Logic, 1–30.
39
The description of Howard Thurman as philosopher, among other descriptors, can be found on the back cover of several
of his books.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 11

little more than inspirational literature. Thurman’s theoretical discourse grappled with the
cosmological structure of the universe, the nature of God, and the interrelatedness of
humanity to existence. It was through these dialogues and others that Thurman realized
his philosophy of community, which facilitated his desire to minister to the Church for the
Fellowship of All People, which was the first interracial, interdenominational, interfaith
assembly of worship in the U.S.A.40 However, Thurman continues to exist tangentially
as a discursive subject in theology and in philosophy. A tangential existence, in spite of,
having cleverly interjected into the discussion his personal experience with race, in the
style of auto-ethnography, to demonstrate the immoral nature of American Christendom,
which he was persuaded to believe condoned separatist and racist activity.
Thurman, through his mystical logic, produced a dialectic aimed at demonstrating the
necessity of the communal experience for the individual and the necessity of particular
communities to be in community with other particular communities, consequently
forming much larger communities, such as nations. Thurman understood the purpose
of humanity to be that of actualizing full potential, which could only be done in com-
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munity, because for Thurman, humans were a part of a harmonious whole. If individuals
are to actualize full potential in community, then full potential for humanity as a whole,
according to Thurman, must reflect the principle of interrelatedness found in commu-
nity. While Thurman’s theoretical discourse of mysticism was not original, his appli-
cation of mysticism to the racial problems of his day was unique. It was an
application based on Thurman’s logic of cosmic unity, which reached into the realm
of metaphysics.
Thurman wrote 20 books; however, not all were intended to outline theological argu-
ments. Most were designated as books of poetry, meditations, and sermons; however, of
the others, it can be said that in them Thurman delineates his theory by using logic,
paradox, and analogy. Two works, in particular, layout the central tenets of Thurman’s
ideas while also applying these ideas to Thurman’s humanistic concerns. The central
tenets, as outlined previously put forth a monist cosmology, while also interlaced with a
mythical explanation of the relationship between humanity and all other existence.
Grounded in these mythical precepts, Thurman’s ideas not only document his familiarity
with the Neoplatonic canon, but he demonstrates a clear intent to substantiate his claims
through the best of these ideas.
In particular, the writings of Plotinus do much to evince Thurman’s understanding.
Certainly, there is not an attempt here to in anyway to proffer an assertion that
Thurman was trying to present his work as an explication of Plotinus. Rather, the conten-
tion, here, is simply that the logic which informed Thurman’s writings was at its core, Neo-
platonic. Basically, a more thorough understanding of his writings can be gained through a
close reading of Plotinus, specifically, and other Neoplatonists, in general. However, the
fact that the following examples sound alike is no guarantee that they mean the same con-
textually, but what is significant is the fact that Thurman believes himself to be saying
something very similar.
Included among Thurman’s many meditations is a meditation entitled, “Plotinus,”
which summarizes the fundamental concepts, as Thurman understood them. These con-
cepts also form a thread of sorts woven securely into Thurman’s many writings.

40
Neal, Common Ground, 60–1.
 12 A. S. NEAL

The world, the cosmos, my little life, are contained in God, and if I keep the roadway open,
even as I live, doing my thing in the world of things, I can keep journeying back home to be
recentered, renewed, recreated, redeemed, over and over and over again, as long as I live and
beyond.41

The above quote is but the first line of the aforementioned meditation and in this it can be
clearly seen that Thurman does not just understand the mystic tradition, but also makes
use of it by way of practice through meditations and prayers. Oneness of everything, the
ability to directly experience this oneness, and the continuation of life, are all concisely
exhibited concepts. An examination of Plotinus’ Ennead VI.9 shows the correlation
between these two mystics separated by centuries.
All beings are beings by “The One,” is how the treatise begins. Metaphysics being the
focal point of the treatise, Plotinus puts forth an ontological framework that is enveloped
in his cosmology. Unity is at the core of existence, and by contradistinction, non-unity
necessarily means nonexistence. How this statement can logically make sense above
more than mere conjecture is made clear through the use of the dialectic, which Plotinus
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makes elucidates in his treatise by the same title,

It puts an end to error in sense knowledge by establishing itself in the intelligible realm. It
concentrates its whole attention there, and after having left deception behind it allows the
soul, as Plato says, to feed in the “meadows of truth.” … It alternates between synthesis
and analysis until it has gone through the entire domain of the intelligible and has arrived
at the principle.42

So, the question is asked, “What then is The One? What is its nature?” (VI.9(3)). The ques-
tion is sequestered rather than directly answered in this statement, “The One is the foun-
dation of all other things and gives them, at one and the time, existence and location; what
needs locating is not self-sufficing” (VI.9(6)). This gives grounding to Thurman’s concept
of existence itself, existing in the “Mind of God,” with God being equated to “The One.”
Thurman admits to the frailty of this connection because of the tendency to anthropomor-
phize the nature of God; however, the connection is sufficient in that it provides the ability
to begin the conceptual process leading toward the ability to directly experience this
oneness.
Plotinus addresses the beginning of the conceptual process as such, “when the soul
seeks to know in its own way – by coalescence and unification – it is prevented by that
very unification from recognizing it has found ‘The One,’ for it is unable to distinguish
knower and known” (VI.9(3)).
Accordingly, the soul cannot cease from the search for “The One,” and Plotinus
describes the necessary steps to move the desired aim (“The One”) as a withdrawal
from sense perception, turning towards the things the Apostle Paul calls “things on
high.” Only through this method can The One be contemplated by the giving way to
what Thurman calls the “God Vision.” This God Vision allows one to see as the God,
but in the finite, however, also giving the ability to directly experience this oneness,
which causes unspeakable joy. The God Vision is finite only in that it is particular to
the ability to have the vision, which from the one is not finite. If it were finite, then the
“The One” would be finite. This speaks to Thurman’s notion of the continuation of life.

41
Thurman, The Creative Encounter, 23.
Plotinus, “Ennead [I.3(4)].”
42
 BLACK THEOLOGY 13

As stated earlier, there are two works, in particular, which layout the central tenets of
Thurman’s ideas while also applying these ideas to Thurman’s humanistic concerns. The
first of the two, Disciplines of the Spirit, details in five chapters, Thurman’s understanding
of the human experience.43 While doing so, Thurman also describes his cosmology. For
Thurman, this is a living world, there is also commonality stemming from the agent of
life, and this agent is also alive. This agent, which has its origin in God, is expressed in
all things that are living. This premise is quite common to many, who can be thought
of as mystics, but Thurman extends this line of reasoning to include the realization of
the unity or commonness in all living things as they actualize their full potential.
Thurman bases his acceptance of the fundamental unity of living things in the observation
of the rhythm or repetition of basic patterns within all living things. For Thurman, living
things begin to pursue their potential from a desire towards unity. Once unity is reach, the
living entities are now able to fully actualize their potential.
In the second of these works, The Search for Common Ground, Thurman first alludes to
the fact that a certain group of his writings could be read as if they were one extended work
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with the aforementioned title providing the conclusion to the collection.44 Focusing on the
proposition that a common ground of existence subsists and is what causes the intercon-
nectedness between all things, especially that which is living, Thurman puts forth the cor-
ollary idea that not only is it good for this connection to guide our political and social
behaviour but not doing so is detrimental to our continued existence. This idea of inter-
connectedness is also a result of Thurman’s belief that the pinnacle of human existence is
in human community, as such, then, it is necessarily implied, through the humanistic
focus of Thurman’s oeuvre, that the height of living existence is also found in human com-
munity. Therefore, it can be inferred, that it is counter to the aim of life for that which
resides at the highest tier of life (human community or humans in community) to also
be destructive to life (i.e. war). Simply put, the highest tier should stand the best possibility
for the continuation of life and the realization of the God vision (which is simply to see as
God sees), which is a given, if the goal of unity is to actualize full potential.
Here in lies the conflict that drives what is called social mysticism45 and turns the aim of
Thurman’s philosophical theology toward his lived experience of social oppression.
Specifically, this conflict consisted of the appearance of an existential absence of possibi-
lities, understood to be oppression, serving a purpose of denying the ability of certain
groups (the oppressed) to actualize their fullest possibilities in life.
In other words, the presence of oppression restricts potential. Understood in this
fashion, then, the necessary implied conclusion is that humans have more possibilities
in community and the better and more open a community is, the more possibilities its
members have. Therefore, whenever an individual or group within a larger community
of groups is intent upon denying this type of freedom to another group then it can be
said that the initial group denying freedom also denies its members the possibility of
reaching full potential. Essentially, to decrease or deny possibility is to promote death.

43
Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit, 17–21.
44
Thurman, The Search for Common Ground, xiii.
45
Social Mysticism is the name given to Thurman’s conception of applied affirmative mysticism, which owing to the realiz-
ation of the effect of social ills on the ability of the mystic to have the mystic experience becomes cognizant of the need
for social action. Thurman sought to perform social action by creating communal space for the realization of the mystic
experience.
 14 A. S. NEAL

Although Thurman was not intent upon creating a system of philosophy or systematic
theology, he was systematic in the way in which he approached his process of ratiocina-
tion. Thurman saw a necessity in first delineating his metaphysical conception in order
that the conclusion he was to put forth, concerning human experience, could be shown
to have validity because it was formed from the very nature of being. He begins his deli-
neation by intimating that he is indeed a mystic, from there he expounds upon the aim of
the mystic, which he indicates as being God. God, for Thurman, is central to his perceptual
framework; through this framework he propagates God as being indefinable, but there are
two knowable essential qualities of God, which are life and mind. Thurman explains in this
manner, “ … wherever life is found, evidence of creative intent must also exist in that
which is being experienced, reacted to, observed, or studied.”46 The significance of
knowing these essential qualities is that they bring to the fore the interconnected nature
of existence.
Development of this metaphysical position, by Thurman, was a consequence of his
immersion in mysticism, to be sure. The writings of pantheistic/panentheistic thinkers,
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such as Spinoza and Whitehead to be specific, however, were also a great influence.
When Thurman offered an epistemic means of discovering the necessity of community,
he wrote, “ … the experience of community, or realized potential, is rooted in life itself
because the ‘intuitive’ human urge for community reflects a characteristic of all life.”47
In the Ethics, Spinoza wrote, “It is the knowledge of the second (reason) and third
(intuition), and not the first kind (opinion or imagination), which teaches us to distinguish
the true from the false.”48 The intent at this point, of course, is not to offer proof of the
validity of Spinoza’s thoughts concerning this discourse, but simply to suggest that
Thurman was certainly aware of its existence. Along a similar progression of thought,
Alfred North Whitehead states,
We sit for hours the same chair, in the same house, with the same animal body. The dimen-
sions of the room are defined by its spatial relations. There are colors, sounds, scents, partly
abiding and partly changing. also the major facts of change are defined by locomotion of the
animal bodies and of the inorganic furniture. Within this general concept of nature, there
have somehow to be interwoven the further concepts of Life and Mind.49

To understand this notion of Whitehead’s, what is needed is attention to Henri

Bergson, a major influence in his thinking. In Bergson’s work, Creative Evolution, he inti-
mates the conflation of the concepts life and consciousness by the statement, “life is con-
sciousness launched into mind.”50 Thurman’s benefit through these discourses and others
can be easily noticed as he prefers to put forth a rationalization of his concept of metaphy-
sics as opposed to being dismissive of or basing his concepts upon an emotive
understanding.
In an effort to thoroughly explicate Thurman’s system, an understanding must be
gained concerning the meaning of mystical logic. As stated previously, mysticism and

46
Thurman. Common Ground, 7. Thurman explains in detail his thought on the matter on pages 4–7 and also previews his
thinking in Disciplines of the Spirit, on pages 14–7. Similar ideas are found in works in which Thurman was certainly fam-
iliar, such as Alfred North Whitehead’s Modes of Thought, 129, and Spinoza’s Ethics (ed.) Wild Ethics, Part II. props 1 and 2.
47
Thurman, Common Ground, 5.
48
Spinoza, The Ethics, 187.
49
Whitehead, Modes of Thought, 129.
50
Bergson, Creative Evolution, 165–76.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 15

logic, as ways of knowing, are seldom discussed together. Much of the explanation can be
found in the disparity between the means by which conclusions are reached in each way of
knowing. Logic is defined as the art of reason (rationality), as such, it lays hold upon the
facility of reason as its method, while mysticism, or spiritual intuition, has adopted intui-
tion (sometimes thought of as instinct).51 In western culture, reason is taken to be
superior, and it is assumed intuition is devoid of reason and does not lead to a credible
truth. If the writings of Benedict Spinoza along with Henri Bergson are given consider-
ation, however, then it is possible to clear away much of the disparity between these alter-
nate ways of knowing. Thurman accepts the premise put forth by T.H. Hughes, based on
the writings of Spinoza and Bergson, which identifies knowledge as not possible without
reason; however, intuition is not devoid of reason.52

Epistemology
The epistemological structure upon which Thurman’s logical framework is constructed
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accepts intuition as a way of knowing not unlike deduction or rationality in that it also
depends upon reason. However, in order to make this claim, it becomes necessary to delin-
eate this understanding of intuition by means of exposing historical sources. In doing so, I
find it valuable to note that Thurman’s perceptual framework was shaped primarily by his
view of nature, his grandmother, and his experience of Blackness, through which he read
all of his philosophical and theological studies. It is this perceptual framework that formed
the impetus for Thurman’s ability to accept or reject many of the writers he would read.
Thurman’s method of accrediting useful texts for the explication of his philosophical
theology was a causal factor in his alignment to those thinkers whose writings identified
them as mystics, given that their ideas were grounded in the claim of the oneness of being.
Thurman’s perceptual framework is evidenced through the verbal indicators found
enveloped within many of his books, however, even recorded in small quantity, the
same determination is easily discernible. In Jesus and the Disinherited (1949), Thurman’s
proclaiming of the continuity of existence between God and the created being is done in
order to make the point that all humans, by virtue of being created by God, are beings of
value.
This idea – that God is mindful of the individual – is of tremendous import in dealing with
fear as a disease. In this world the socially disadvantaged man is constantly given a negative
answer to the most important personal questions upon which mental health depends: “Who
am I? What am I?”53

In writing this statement, Thurman harkens back to his 1955 publication taken from the
“Ingersol Lecture” given in 1947, entitled Deep River, where he begins by asserting the
importance of the antebellum Negro preacher, whose ministry was built upon the founda-
tional premise that “every human being was a child of God.” In combination with the
earlier quote, it is not difficult to discern if one has indeed read Thurman’s oeuvre, the
connective tissue in these statements is to be found in the characterization of his grand-
mother’s hermeneutical quip concerning her refusal to hear any of the letters of Paul
51
Russell, Mysticism and Logic, 1–30.
52
Hughes, Philosophical Basis of Mysticism, 110–27.
53
Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 49.
 16 A. S. NEAL

read by the young Thurman. When pressed about this refusal, she focused his attention to
her enslavement, offering from her memory, “ … if freedom ever came and I learned to
read, I would never read from that part of the Bible!”54 The significance of this statement
is found in Thurman’s notion of the interconnectedness of all things giving justification to
the rejection of any proposition that subverts this notion, regardless of the source.
The claim that being is one, and thus interconnected, is epistemologically rooted in the
validity of intuition. Attempts to validate intuition’s ability to reveal truth has been well
documented in the history of philosophy. Through Thurman’s writings, an investigation
of his philosophical analyses of mysticism revealed that his thoughts concerning mysti-
cism, specifically intuition, explored many sources, including Greek Philosophy, among
others, but came to depend on the writings of three philosophers in particular: Spinoza,
Bergson, and T. Hywel Hughes. Whitehead’s writings are important, also, but to a
much lesser degree.
Spinoza’s writings on the subject prove to be foundational for Thurman. In the Ethics,
Spinoza writes that the three ways of knowing are Imagination, Reason, and Intuitive
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Science. Imagination, for Spinoza, is based upon experiences, which are corrupted, con-
fused, and lack interpretation through the lens of knowledge. Therefore, Spinoza rejects
imagination as a way of attaining truth. However, reason and intuition are found by
Spinoza to be acceptable owing to the rationalizing process found present in each. The
basis for Spinoza’s acceptance of intuition as a way of knowing can be found in the under-
standing of his rejection of the Cartesian dubito, which separates the substance of the mind
from the physical substances of matter, essentially creating a disconnect between thinking
substance and physical substance. For Spinoza, this concept was entirely wrongheaded,
given that to accept such a proposition would create an inability for these two substances
to have any knowledge of the other. For Spinoza, there is only one substance. Thurman
agreed with this notion and expanded upon it, as he found necessary, which includes
his explication of life as living.
T. Hywel Hughes’ chapter on kinds of knowledge substantially explores the variations
in meaning pertaining to knowledge, while focusing upon the two descriptions of knowl-
edge, which appear the most in the writings of major thinkers on the matter. After deli-
neating a number of different historical ideas concerning what counts as knowledge,
and also distinguishing specific characteristics of each form, Hughes’ focus is upon the
incomplete scope of knowledge created by giving preeminence to reason over any other
form. Substantial dependence is placed upon the account given by Bergson, which aims
to incorporate the science of evolution into any metaphysical understanding of knowledge.
Hughes finds this discourse necessary, as his total desired result is nothing less than to give
credence to mysticism through an identification of the flaws that arise from the attempts of
others to equate reason (the presumed legitimate path to knowledge), as the means for
validating the nonexistence of God. Hughes does take issue with the dichotomization of
reasoning and intuition by Bergson. In placing each way of knowing polar to the other,
Bergson has made “too deep and radical a cleavage”55 between the two. According to
Hughes, intuition is not a way of knowing opposed to reason, but a comprehensive way

54
Thurman, Deep River, 17.
55
Hughes, Philosophical Basis of Mysticism, 117.
 BLACK THEOLOGY 17

of knowing inclusive of reason. About this, Hughes would say, “In all knowledge, some of
the forms and processes of reason are operative.”56
Hughes further exposes the meaning of intuition by removing all cleavages and flatten-
ing points of ambiguity until further light is shone upon the matter, all the while reshaping
and possibly recreating the notion of what it means to know reality. By definition, the
concept of reason is a delimiting factor, including as known, only those things that can
be proven based on the skill-set of the knower (based upon laws and logical inferences).
This, as a corollary, is also dependent on the horizon of their existence. However, intuition,
not being dependent on the faculties of reason alone, combines the skill-set of the knower
along with all of that which the knower is composed, inclusive of feeling and emotional
states, to provide for a more instinctual basis from which to know. Hughes uses a term
from psychology, feeling-continuum, to better describe what exactly is meant by intuitive
knowledge. He uses the following the analogy,
Before the child the is conscious of self as distinct from its environment, there is the con-
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sciousness of organic sensation and needs, at first a sense of discomfort and of change in
its environment, together with a vague feeling of organic needs.

This analogy further exemplifies Hughes’ premise that knowing as a result of intuition is
not exclusive of reason. Neither is it solely dependent upon reason either. Rather, it makes
space for the knower’s perception to be based on the totality of stimuli and the thinking
process, rather than only the thinking process, jettisoning any stimuli not concluded
through reason.

Mystical Logic of Cosmic Unity

According to Thurman’s mystical logic of an intuitionally perceived cosmic unity, the
potentiality bound within life is only realized through an understanding of the interrelat-
edness of being. Therefore, to deny this realization of potential is to maintain an incom-
plete status. About this, Thurman writes,
In the total panorama of the external world of nature, there seems to be a pattern of structural
dependability and continuity, or what may be called an inner logic, that manifests itself in
forms, organizational schemes, and in a wide variety of time-space arrangements.57

This is because, as stated earlier, Thurman assumes life to be alive with a conscious intent,
and the conscious intent is that it (life) continues. Life seeks life. Life seeks to be whole. In
this sense, to be whole ultimately means to realize whole existence in God, which as
Thurman understands, can be equivocated with God. At this moment of intuitional realiz-
ation, the “Creative Encounter,” as Thurman calls it, a new perceptual framework is
created. Thurman refers to this as opening of the door that can never be shut. The
response of the individual to this vision of possibilities by means of participation in the
possibilities is to have communion with God. It is the moment of making the lived experi-
ence and the desired experience one.
Fundamentally, to make the lived experience and the desired experience unite is
essentially the foundation of all Thurman’s thinking and writings. We must remain
56
Ibid.
57
Thurman, Common Ground, 4–7 (5).
 18 A. S. NEAL

cognizant, however, that the desired experience, that of unity or oneness, emanates
from God. This unity or oneness does not imply singleness of vision, experience, or crea-
tive action, but multiplicity should instead be substituted in conjunction with singleness
of aim, which is the good also perceived as love. Ultimately, to reach this moment,
for Thurman, is to exist at the highest level of being or quite literally to be free. The
achievement of this moment, however, is contingent, relying upon several factors most
important of which is the elevating of the consciousness or the disciplining of the individ-
ual spirit.
In the work entitled, Disciplines of the Spirit, the five aspects of the human experience
focused upon by Thurman were chosen because of their ability to tutor the human spirit.58
Mysticism as an experience and a way of being in the world is explored in great detail in a
1939 lecture series given at Eden Theological Seminary at St. Louis, Mo.59 The emphasis,
here, being upon Thurman’s mystical logic of cosmic unity, the first of these five aspects
becomes central to our present discussion. Thurman sees commitment as similar to what
other philosophers have termed intentionality. Commitment is characterized as being
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basic to life and, therefore, not foreign to each living being, enabling all beings to
benefit from the inherent capacity to commit on some level. It is neither a positive or nega-
tive capacity, and benefits any aim equally; however, those aims that are supportive of life,
are in turn, supported by life. This support given by life is demonstrative of Thurman’s
mystical logic of cosmic unity, in that it allows the committed being to experience the
responsiveness of the universe to this intentionality, such that life as experienced is
oneness with the committed aim.

Logical Framework for Thurman’s Argument

(1) Creation exists in the mind of God therefore existence is whole or one.
(2) Existing in the mind of God causes the interconnectivity of all things.
(3) Life emanates from the mind of God and as such, this is a living world.
(4) Life is also alive, and as expressions of life we, too, are alive.
(5) Within life exists the foundation of the connection to the mind of God.
(6) Humans also exist in the mind of God and reflect the consciousness (intent) and crea-
tivity (possibility) of the mind of God.
(7) Through consciousness, humans realize, owing to intuition, an internal connection to
an existence beyond themselves.

Thurman concluded that in order to actualize our greatest possibility, whether as an indi-
vidual or community, we must realize our internal nature in the external world.
About this Thurman writes,
If life has been fashioned out of a fundamental unity and ground, and if it has developed
within such a structure, then it is not to be wondered that the interest in and concern for
wholeness should be part of the conscious intent of life, more basic than any particular con-
scious tendency toward fragmentation. Every expression of life is trying to experience itself.

58
Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit, 9.
Thurman, “Mysticism and Social Change,” 108–23.
59
 BLACK THEOLOGY 19

For a form of life to experience itself it must actualize its unique potential. In so doing it
experiences in miniature the fundamental unity out of which it comes.60

Arising from the aforementioned, one can assert that, for Thurman, following is of funda-
mental import, namely:
a = life has been fashioned out of fundamental unity and ground

b = life has developed within such a structure

c = it is not to be wondered that the interest in and concern for wholeness should be part of
the conscious intent of life, more basic than any particular conscious tendency toward
fragmentation.

This paper has demonstrated the means by which Thurman’s work across the course of his
long life contains intellectual riches that can assist the generative development Black
Theology. While Thurman’s articulation of the human condition predates formal devel-
opment of Black Theology there is no doubting the prescience of much of his writing
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that prefigures the later continuing debates on the task of Black bodies as they seek to
reclaim their humanity.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor
Anthony Sean Neal is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate Faculty for the Program in
African American Studies at Mississippi State University. He is the author of Common Ground:
A Comparison of the Ideas of Consciousness in the Writings of Howard Thurman and Huey
Newton published (New York: Africa World Press 2015). He has published a chapter and other
articles on this subject. He is currently working on his second monograph, entitled Howard Thur-
man’s Philosophical Mysticism: Love Against Fragmentation (under contract with Lexington Press).

ORCID
Anthony Sean Neal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5512-7901

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